A Mother's Outrage
by Star Scribe
Summary: With her daughter dead, Penny Halliwell slips into darkness. (New: Chapter 5)
1. Patty

I own nothing even associated with the television series "Charmed." That all belongs to Constance M. Burge, the producers, Spelling Television, etc. 

I wrote this for a mother who recently lost her child to natural but unexpected causes. Rest in Peace, Melissa. And to her mother Diane and their family, Good Luck and God Bless.

A MOTHER'S OUTRAGE

_Breathe, Patty. You can do this. _Patty Halliwell exhaled as she stepped closer to the dock. As her first foot touched the wooden planks, white orbs appeared in front of her, taking the form of her whitelighter Sam.

"Patty, stop!" Sam put his arms up in an attempt to stop his most beloved charge. "This isn't your destiny."

The witch pushed past her lover and continued walking. Sam grabbed her arm tightly. "Let me go, Sam!" She looked at him with anger for the last time.

"Patty, I love you. If you won't turn back for me, turn back for your daughters. Turn back for _our _daughter, for Paige." He regretted that sentence the moment he said it.

Pangs of sorrow and longing washed over Patty as she thought of her youngest child.

"Patty, I'm sor--" His apology was cut off as Patty froze him. _Prue, Piper, Phoebe, Paige. I'm making the world safer for you._ She turned to the motionless figure beside her. _I love you, Sam._

Patty exhaled again as she reached the end of the dock, looking out over the lake that had claimed so many lives. She attached the cables to the battery and spread the potion over the still waters.

The Water Demon surfaced, looming over the mother of the Charmed Ones. Patty stood confidently, her resolve unwavering. The witch and the demon both tensed, waiting for the other to move. Her confidence rising, Patty raised her hands to freeze the demon. But it was too late. The liquid monster jumped down her throat before she could even scream. She collapsed to the dock as her lungs began to burn.

_Sam! Sam! Help me! It hurts, Sam! _Patty's mind cried out for her whitelighter, still frozen by her powers. As darkness blanketed her eyes, Patty's final thoughts ran through her mind. _Prue! Piper! Phoebe! Paige! My girls. Oh my sweets, how I love you all so much! I love you and I am so very sorry! Please forgive me! _She relaxed as she felt the Elders call her.

"Patty! Oh God!" She looked down and saw Sam try to heal her lifeless body. His face contorted in rage as the Water Demon slithered out of his lover's mouth and back into the lake. Defeated, Sam went up to the camp office to call an ambulance.

"Grams, can I get a Popsicle from the ice cream man?" Little Piper Halliwell asked, tugging on her grandmother's dress.

Penny Halliwell placed her baby granddaughter Phoebe in her playpen and turned to her daughter's second-born. "Sweetie, you just had lunch. Maybe tomorrow. Why don't you go by the window and see if Mommy and Prue are home yet?" The Halliwell matriarch suggested sweetly.

When she was sure Piper wasn't looking, she used her power to grab one of Phoebe's bottles from the kitchen. Holding the bottle to the playpen, Penny smiled as the baby girl reached for her. "Gam, Gam!" She cooed.

"That's right, Phoebe. I'm your Grams," she said laughing. Again she glanced to ensure Piper wouldn't see. Then she used her power to make Phoebe's mobile spin very fast. _Patty would kill me for using my powers in front of the girls, but Phoebe won't remember. Besides, someday they'll be the Charmed Ones. _She smiled at the baby again. "Someday Phoebe, you'll be one of the most powerful witches in the world. Yes you will, yes you will," she said in baby talk.

Suddenly, she saw orbs in the kitchen and nearly panicked. "Piper, will you watch Phoebe for a minute?"

"Sure Grams," the little girl said as she hopped off the couch and ran over to her baby sister's playpen, her hair bouncing.

Penny hurried into the kitchen and came face-to-face with her whitelighter, Olivia. "What are you doing here? I told you to only orb in the attic! Patty would _kill me_ if the girls saw any magic," she began to whisper. She stopped abruptly when she saw the solemn look on Olivia's face. Worry came upon her. "What is it, Olivia? Is a demon coming? Is someone after the girls?" She glanced back at the living room to make sure her granddaughters were still there, then turned back to her whitelighter.

"The Charmed Ones are safe. But something terrible has happened. It's about Pa--" Olivia was interrupted when the doorbell rang. "I'll wait in the attic." She orbed out.

Smoothing Piper's hair as she passed, Penny grasped the doorknob and prepared to vanquish any demon on the other side of the door.

On the front steps she found a policeman holding her oldest granddaughter Prue in his arms. The girl was crying. Penny took the child from him. "Prue, what's wrong?" When she got no answer, she turned to the policeman. "What's wrong with Prue? What happened? Where's her mother? Where's Patty?"

"Mrs. Halliwell, there was an accident. Your daughter was apparently at Camp Skylark to bring Prue home early. But--" he trailed off.

"What happened to my daughter?!"

"Your daughter Patty was found dead on the dock of Lake Skylark. She'd drowned."

In that moment, Penny's face, as well as her heart, broke. She stepped back from the doorway.

"Mrs. Halliwell, I'm so very--" His condolences were cut off as the door magically slammed in his face. She carried Prue to Phoebe's playpen and set her down beside Piper. She looked at her granddaughters, the Charmed Ones, and prepared to give the world's most powerful witches the worst news of their young lives.

TBC

Read and Review ~ SS


	2. Strength

Penny stormed into the attic as the door was telekinetically thrown off its hinges. Olivia jumped back as it landed on an old dollhouse. The memorabilia of generations of Halliwells threw themselves against the walls as the grief-filled witch strode straight towards the trembling whitelighter. "Why didn't you do something? Why is Patty dead? You're supposed to PROTECT US!" She shook the frightened angel.

Olivia orbed out of Penny's grasp. "_You _are my charge, not Patty. I didn't even know she was facing the Water Demon until the Elders told me she was dead. I'm so sorry."

The childless mother didn't even try to stop the next volley of tears. "The Water Demon! I told her not to go after it! I told her she wasn't strong enough! I told her! Why didn't she listen to me?! I am --" she stopped as she sank deeper into misery. "I _was _her mother," she sobbed as she collapsed to the floor.

Olivia bent to lift her shattered charge, but Penny pushed her away and pulled herself up. The whitelighter extended her arms to Penny. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" She screamed and Olivia was hurled across the room.

She looked at her charge in mortal terror as the witch convulsed, rage and anguish coming off her in waves. She turned her gaze to her guardian and at that moment looked as soulless as the Source himself. "Where...was...Sam?" She vilely spat the name of her daughter's protector and lover.

Standing, the whitelighter bowed her head. "LOOK AT ME!" An unseen force pulled up Olivia's head. "We don't know. All we know is that shortly after she died, he disappeared off the radar without a trace."

"NO!" The attic window shattered and the roof sagged.

Olivia put her hands up in a meager defense. "Penelope, please calm down. The Elders think he gave up his powers. But why would he do that?"

"What?" Penny asked, drained both emotionally and physically.

"We all hate to lose charges. It's the worst thing that can happen to a whitelighter. But Sam is the first to clip his own wings. Why?"

Penny knew _exactly_ why. After her marriage failed, Sam pursued Patty and she fell in love with him. The bastard had even sired her secret fourth daughter, Paige, who was now living a mortal infant's life with mortal parents. Since the loss of her baby, Patty had gone a vanquishing spree, destroying demons in hopes of escaping the pain, finally losing her life doing so. Now Penny too felt the void a child leaves when they are ripped from your breast. But there was no way she could disgrace her fallen child by revealing her forbidden passion, not ever. But that passion had cost her a daughter and virtually orphaned her own precious daughters.

"I don't care why, all that matters is that he _pays_ for failing Patty, and for sentencing us to life without her." Her scrying crystal flew to her and she reached for a map.

"This is pointless. Sam is punishing himself. Your priority must be those girls, Patty's daughters, the Charmed Ones. Their father is gone and their mother is dead. All they have is each other and you." She orbed out.

Penny suppressed the tears pounding behind her eyes and headed downstairs. As she gazed into the living room she saw her daughter: in Piper's face, Prue's smile, Phoebe's eyes. She also knew that somewhere, a piece of Patty lived in Paige, too. And she also knew that no matter what, those girls would always have an indestructible bond with their mother, both in their hearts and their powers. Gathering the strength of her soul and her love for her daughter and granddaughters, she approached the anguished children. Prue was curled up on the couch, her face buried in a pillow to muffle her cries. Piper was leaning on Phoebe's playpen, hugging one of her baby sister's stuffed animals trying not to drown in her pain. Phoebe lay on her blanket as though emotionless, but Penny knew the youngest child was also devastated by the loss of the mother she would never know.

She picked up Phoebe and wrapped her right arm around Piper. She motioned to Prue and folded her left arm around her. "Grams?" Asked Prue quietly.

"Yes, sweetheart," she said, pulling the older two girls closer to her.

"Are we still a family? Mommy said a family was a Mommy, a Daddy and kids. But Daddy's gone and Mommy's gone forever and ever." She sobbed into her grandmother's torso.

"Listen to me, Prue. You too, Piper. Your Mommy and Daddy are gone, but _we are still a family._ We will always be a family. Nothing will change that. Do you remember the rhyme I taught you when Phoebe was born?" Both girls nodded.

"Let's say it now. The Power of Three will set us free." The girls joined in. "The Power of Three will set us free. The Power of Three will set us free." The tears stopped flowing as they chanted and the Halliwells clang to each other for strength.

TBC

Read and Review! ~ SS


	3. Hell's Spells

Gripping Prue's hand, Penny slowly walked towards her only child. A beautiful mahogany-colored coffin sat on a pedestal amongst a bouquet of flowers. A Wiccan priestess stood before a blue silk covered altar table, which is adorned with a ceremonial chalice. A tied, silver cord lay before the chalice, three lit candles surrounded it, symbolizing birth, death, and the rebirth. The portrait of Patty, which stood next to the coffin, was captioned: 

PATRICIA HALLIWELL, 1946-1978 

Forever in our Hearts

****

Penny rested her free hand on the coffin whispering, "Blessed be, my darling."

The priestess, in hopes of comforting Penny, rested her on hand on the older witch's. "She has passed into the better world, a world where she will never be hurt again."

Nodding, Penny took Prue and turned back to see her dear friend Gail with Piper and Phoebe. The witches sat down the girls in between them and Phoebe on Gail's lap as the service began.

The priestess cleared her throat and started to speak. "That which belongs to fellowship and love. That, which belongs to the circle, remains with us. The wheel turns. As life is a day, so our sister has passed into night. Nothing is final, and we who remain behind know that one day, we will once again share the bread and wine with our sister, the sweet Patricia. O blessed spirit, we bid you farewell, for you await a new destiny." With those final words, she untied the silver cord and gently laid it into the chalice. She blew out the candles.

Gail turned to her old friend, tears streaming down her face as she caressed Phoebe's head. "It was a beautiful service, Penny. I'm sure she would've loved it."

"Thank you Gail, but I think my daughter would prefer being able to raise her children than having a nice funeral." She glanced back towards the crowd of mourners, past distant relatives and Patty's friends, looking for a face. Sam's face. The mere thought of him magnified her already-overwhelming sorrow. But she did see a young, brown-skinned woman with shoulder-length ebony hair wearing an even darker dress. 

Nodding at the mourners as she passed, Penny headed straight for Olivia. "Did the Elders send you here?" 

The whitelighter shook her head. "I came to see how you're holding up. You're more than a charge to me; you're a friend. And I know what it's like to bury a child."

Penny gasped indignantly. "How could you possibly know? You never had children!" She whispered angrily.

"That's true, but 62 years ago, I watched my mother bury me and I could feel her sadness. I was younger than Patty is now. It broke my heart to see her cry."

"I want you to leave, now."

"But, Penelope--"

"Go!" To spare her charge further anguish, Olivia ducked behind a pillar and orbed out.

Turning, the Halliwell matriarch hurried back to her friend and granddaughters. "Gail, I can't go to the burial. I can't watch them dump dirt on my little girl as if she were a potted plant," she began to sob.

"I understand," Gail said as she hugged one of her oldest friends close to her. "Blessed be."

"Blessed be. Could you take the girls with you for a few days? I'm a wreck right now and they need someone strong to get through this."

Gail nodded and put Phoebe in her carriage, then took Piper's hand. "Girls, you're going to stay with me for a few days. Doesn't that sound like fun?" The two older children nodded solemnly.

Shaking hands with random mourners as she passed, Penny left the girls with Gail and hurried out of the church. She tapped on the window of the limo that had brought her and the driver rolled down the window. "Please, please take me home now." He nodded and she climbed in the backseat.

In no time at all, the limo pulled up at 1329 Prescott Street. As she hurried up the walk, she waved to the driver and the limo headed back to the church. 

Blowing open the front door, she ran upstairs to the attic. The Book of Shadows flew open and the pages started flipping. Penny lit the circle of candles and started to chant: "Hear these words, here my cry, spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee, cross now the Great Divide."

Penny stared in hopeful wonder as white orbs appeared in the circle. But they took the form of an older woman, around fifty. The witch gasped as she recognized her mother, Helena. "Penny, you know you can't see your daughter yet. It's too soon. You need time to move on."

"I don't need to move on, I need my little girl! Now get her down here!"

"I can't do that but I can help you grieve," the departed witch said.

"I don't need your comfort," Penny spat and blew out one of the candles, causing her mother to disappear.

She grabbed a pot full of water and dropped in a rose from Patty's funeral. Then, using a ceremonial athame, she sliced her finger and a few droplets splattered on the rose. Then she began to rhyme:

Evil that has grown so wild,

Has taken now my precious child.

Bring her back so mote it be,

Return my Patty home to me.

Looking to the circle, she saw a flicker of light and felt a cold wind but then it was gone. She squeezed a few more drops of blood onto the rose and threw in a few potions.

I call to you whom I gave birth,

As you lie beneath the Earth.

Return to me now I say,

Come back to Mother without delay.

This time there was a bigger flash and a stronger wind, but Patty still did not appear.

Frustrated, Penny sliced her palm and drained as much blood as she could from it. Then she opened the trunk and searched for her strongest potions. "Let's see, the potion to increase power, to undo mistakes, and the healing potion." Dumping them all in the pot, there was a poof of smoke. Next, she placed a picture of Patty in the center of the circle.

Powers of Heaven and Powers of Hell,

Help me now to complete this spell.

My anguish grows by leaps and bounds,

Because my daughter lies in the ground.

Angels and hellions now work your charms,

Return my baby to my empty arms.

She squeezed a final drop of blood into the pot. The strongest wind blew in the attic, knocking Penny to the ground. As she stood, there was a giant flash of light as lightning struck Patty's photo, setting it aflame. 

As the smoke rose, a figure appeared. It was a little girl around ten with long blonde pigtails wearing a white party dress. She looked at Penny, and her eyes were blacker than the darkest night. "You rang?" With that, she began to giggle insanely.

TBC

Read and Review! ~SS


	4. Answered

Penny flung her arm and the child-demon was thrown against the wall. Growling, she stood and brushed off her dress. The witch again raised her arm and the demon raised her gloved hands in truce. "You summoned me, Penny," she stated as Penny looked at her quizzically. "You invoked Heaven and Hell, Heaven ignored you. But Hell didn't. My name is Ayanna, and I am a restoration demon." She bowed.

A chair dragged itself across the room and stopped behind Ayanna, who sat down. Keeping her arm ready to attack, Penny used her power to flip through the Book of Shadows. "There's nothing in here about restoration demons."

"Why would there be? We are rarely heard of in the Underworld and even more unknown among witches. I am 7600 years old and few others than the Source know my name."

"If you're a demon, why would you answer my call?" Penny was growing even more suspicious.

"A former Source was near death and I refused to restore him because he killed many of my kind. He used the last of his magic to keep me in this infantile body for eternity and you have the power to free me. In exchange for your daughter of course." She waved her hand and an image of Patty appeared, her arms open to embrace her mother. Penny ran to the vision, but it faded away just as she began to close her arms around it. 

Tears began to warm behind her eyes and she slapped Ayanna, knocking the demon to the floor. "Damn you! How could you be so cruel!" Her only response was a smile. "Why would you restore a good witch, anyway?"

Ayanna stood, glaring at the childless mother. "Because your daughter would not dramatically shift the balance of power in your favor. She's not powerful enough. And in exchange for my adulthood back, I would be happy to give her to you."

At that moment, a warlock blinked in. Penny tried to throw him but he blinked out of the way. He threw a ceremonial athame at Ayanna but Penny magically threw it back at him, hitting him in the chest. Ayanna smiled at her savior as the warlock exploded. "We have to move quickly. Someone must know I'm here and if they kill me, you'll _never_ see Patty again."

As that reality sank into the witch's brain, trunks and boxes and chairs threw themselves in front of the door and window, casting the room in darkness. She lit a candle and frantically searched her mind for a spell her mother had taught her years before when she was a girl: "Hear my plea, circling arms protect me. Let no evil enter these halls, now raise a wall." As she finished the incantation, a blue mist appeared around her feet and spread outward, enveloping the entire manor before disappearing. "We have a few hours, now bring back Patty."

Ayanna wagged her finger. "It's not that simple, dear. We need supplies, hard-to-get supplies, and you have to be the one to get them."

The witch nodded like a madwoman on a desperate quest. "Whatever we need, I'll get them, no matter what the cost."

"Good. There are three ingredients. For the first, you will need to open a portal. A very specific portal."

Penny turned on her heel. "To where?" She stared suspiciously at the innocent-looking hellion.

"Tolla, one the heavenly dimensions. Obviously, you'd have to go alone." Ayanna sat down and began to play with an antique dollhouse. Sighing, she threw one of the plastic inhabitants into the air and blew it up, laughing at the ashes.

"Stop that! It's Prue's favorite dollhouse! Now what do I need in Tolla?" She asked impatiently as she rummaged through a trunk looking for talismans. 

"This." Penny turned just in time to see an athame fly straight towards her face. Waving her arm, the knife veered off course and stuck in a wall. "You'll need that to cut the unicorn's heart out."

The witch pulled the athame out of the wall and walked menacingly closer to Ayanna. "Why don't we just use your heart?"

The demon almost fell out of her chair as she laughed. "Because the restoration spell requires a _pure_ heart, and mine is anything but!"

The grief-wrought sorceress laid the purity talisman in the center of the ring of candles and sprinkled white rose petals around it. "Move me now through time and space, take me now to a different place."

A white tornado appeared in the ring, and the petals flashed as they disappeared off the face of the earth. Penny turned to Ayanna. "Stay here, you'll be safe!" She yelled as she jumped into the roaring winds and vanished.

"You're the one in danger, Penny," Ayanna said to no one. She pulled a venom-green crystal from her pockets. Cradling it in her hands, she whispered softly. "You know what to do."

The first thing Penny felt was peace, a tranquility so tangible it almost felt like a blanket keeping her warm on a cold winter night. She walked through it, searching for what she so desperately sought. It was so bright she could barely see, but she could sense the joy all throughout the perfect world. She heard a gallop far off in the distance and a strong neigh echoed shortly after. 

Penny passed through something unseen and found she was wearing pure white robes and stood in a flourishing meadow with a crystalline lake nearby. Even as the sorrow raged inside her with the power of a tempest, she wanted nothing more than to lie on the grass and spend eternity in this place. 

She was about to fall asleep when something white flickered through the meadow faster than light. A unicorn! Suddenly, she remembered: Patty, the girls, the demon, and her mission. As the magnificent stallion raced by again, it was tripped by an invisible force and fell to its knees. Penny knelt beside it, gently caressing its silver horn. The unicorn looked at her with its luminous cerulean eyes and seemed to smile. 

The witch placed both hands on the magical steed's body and focused on its heart, making it beat slower and slower. As the beautiful creature died, the light in its eyes ebbed until it was a dim, flickered, and then was extinguished forever. She pulled the athame from her robes and held it over her head. As she cut into the unicorn, she was unaware that the sky above her was becoming as red as the grass surrounding the body.

TBC

Read and Review! ~ SS


	5. Done

Thunder rumbled outside the manor as Ayanna gleefully stared as lightning pierced the night sky and struck the force field enveloping the Halliwell home. Suddenly, a gust of wind from inside the attic threw the demon against the wall. As she pulled herself to her feet, she saw black smears on her gloves. She touched the back of her head again. More black blood stained her white gloves. "WHO DARES TO CAUSE ME HARM?!"

Athames appeared in her hands as she turned to the center of the attic. A haggard woman emerged from the portal. She was dressed in white robes, stained with ruby red blood everywhere. On her face was her own crimson handprints smeared across her cheeks and lips. In her right hand was a motionless unicorn heart. "I have done what you asked," she said in a croaked voice. 

Ayanna's fierce scowl turned into a smile as the athames in her hands disappeared. She walked closer to Penny; gleeful that the witch's conversion had begun. She pointed to the circle of black candles, and the heart floated out of Penny's hand and into the center. The flames changed from a bright yellow to a sinister black.

Penny blinked and in an instant, she was washed and wearing a clean dark dress and cloak. The demon knew this was not a witch power and her elation soared. "What do I need next?" The witch's fingers twitched and lightning seemed to flow through her fingers.

Ayanna stood in front of her matter-of-factly. "Well, the heart brings her back to life, but without the next ingredient, she will die again within the hour. You must get the bones of a child, for the life force within will sustain her. But the dead child must be a blood relative or her body will reject the force. Do you understand?"

The sorceress smiled. "I know where to find what I seek." She extended her arms in front of her and parted them. The piles of trunks and memorabilia parted exposing the hole in the wall where the window had been. Penny rose off the floor and floated towards the hole. She rested her hand on the edge and turned back to Ayanna. "Stay."

Screaming, the demon was thrown back into a chair and the floorboards rose, moving and hissing like snakes, tying her down. Penny chuckled and jumped out of the hole.

Giggling indignantly, Ayanna reached behind and pulled on the chair. It broke into wooden stakes that piled at her feet. "Stupid witch." She grasped the venom-green crystal and it rocked in her palm. "Make sure she completes her task." With that, the crystal vanished.

The gates of the Restfield Cemetery twisted and coiled backwards, allowing Penny entrance. She walked hurriedly through the rows of headstones until she came upon a small one with a picture of an angel carved above the name. 

~BELOVED DAUGHTER~

PORTIA HALLIWELL

1926-1933

A FLOWER TAKEN BEFORE SHE BLOOMED

Penny remembered her lost little sister for a moment. She had been at school and little Portia woke up from her nap early while their mother Helena was trying to vanquish a very powerful demon. An energy ball was thrown wild just as Portia came downstairs. Helena didn't even know she was there until she saw the charred teddy bear. She never recovered from losing her little girl.

Now the mother's heartache had become the daughter's. Penny reached with her mind and the coffin that had rested for nearly fifty years began rose. She wrapped her sister in her cloak and began heading towards the entrance to the cemetery when she saw a familiar name on a fresh grave.

Penny knelt beside her daughter's headstone and laid her sister's remains down. She curled up next the headstone and warm tears sprang from her cold eyes. Hours seemed to pass before she heard a noise. 

A twig snapped, and Penny looked up to see two large, venom-green destroyer demons heading straight towards her. In their hands were giant hammers. She flung her arm, but they kept advancing. She rolled out of the way as the first swung his massive weapon down, barely missing her. She kept waving her arms, but her power was gone. Crying now out of fear, she pulled herself to her feet and prepared to run when she heard a loud crunch. The second destroyer had brought his hammer down on her cloak, and Portia's bones. 

"Noooooooo!" They were destroying her only chance to save Patty. She ran back at them, but the first hit her with his mammoth arm and knocked her down, nose bleeding. Laughing gruffly, he turned Patty's headstone into pebbles with one swing. Writhing with sinister fury, she flung her arm at him. White-blue lightning surged from her fingertips, striking him in the chest. He stumbled and she outstretched her arms side-by-side. A beam of lightning poured from her hands and he exploded in a white blast.

Growling, the remaining demon grabbed her bundled-up sister and began running. Lightning struck his feet and he fell, losing his hold on the cloak. Penny stood over him ominously and saw the fear in his eyes. Her body pulsing, she poured lightning from her fingertips and in an instant, all that was left was scorched earth.

Grabbing the bones, she walked up to the twisted gate. "Hey, where the hell are you going with those bones, lady?" Penny turned to see the caretaker walking towards her angrily. Before he could get any closer, she pointed one finger and he was eviscerated. Climbing over the coils, she headed home. When she was gone, the caretaker shimmered back in. "It's done."

TBC

Read and Review! ~ SS


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